A Closer Look at Chinese Names

This post has been a long time coming. In spring 2020, I posted two of the most popular posts on this blog:

Reading Chinese Names: Female Names

Reading Chinese Names: Male Names

More recently I have wanted to revisit the idea behind those posts but with a different, more in-depth approach. I also made some decisions while compiling data for those posts that I now regret. So in late summer 2021, I set out to completely redo my data collection with the eventual goal of creating this very post.

About the Data

I will include more information about my data collection process at the end of this post for those interested.

I gathered 3,277 names (1602 male, 1675 female) from idol shows and groups. In the grand scheme of things, this is not a lot of names at all. But I think it’s enough that we can explore names, observe some generalities, and have fun! These names belong to individuals roughly 15-30 years old. Most names belong to individuals from Mainland China, but there are some Hong Konger and Taiwanese names as well.

Some of the name sources include:

• 偶像练习生/青春有你
• 创造101/创造营
• 明日之子
• 以团之名/少年之名
• SNH48
• 快乐女声/快乐男声
• 菱格世代DD52
• Various groups like 时代少年 and SING女团

I also wanted to note something important: the definitions I am using (via MDBG) are only the surface. For example, a name containing a character meaning jade might also have implications of beauty and virtue. So the meaning is more than just “jade.” However, it just isn’t practical to go into all the nitty gritty here. I encourage you to seek out more resources if you are interested.

Some Thanks

Thanks so much to @liu-anhuaming,@meichenxi, and my friend Tiffany for their help and advice during the process of creating this post! 非常感谢你们，你们是最棒的！

Given Names (Overall)

First let’s look at the most common characters for ALL the given names in the dataset. There were 1093 total unique characters across all the given names. I’m going to include more characters (almost rounding out the top 100) at the bottom of this post for those interested. There is also some information broken down by gender below.

Top Given Name Characters

1. 宇 yǔ - room, universe / 87
2. 子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 82
3. 佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 68
4. 雨 yǔ - rain / 63
5. 嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 59
6. 文 wén - language, culture, writing, formal, literary, gentle / 58
7. 欣 xīn - happy / 55
8. 一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 51
9. 俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 51
10. 思 sī - to think, to consider / 49
11. 杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 49
12. 豪 háo - grand, heroic / 48
13. 怡 yí - harmony, pleased / 45
14. 天 tiān - day, sky, heaven / 44
15. 泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 43
16. 琪 qí - fine jade / 40
17. 婷 tíng - graceful / 39
18. 鑫 xīn - prosperity / 38
19. 晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 35
20. 浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 35
21. 晨 chén - morning, dawn, daybreak / 34
22. 恩 ēn - favor, grace, kindness / 33
23. 博 bó - extensive, ample, rich, obtain, aim, to win, to get, plentiful / 32
24. 慧 huì - intelligent / 32
25. 明 míng - bright, clear, to understand, wise / 32
26. 轩 xuān - pavilion with a view, high, tall / 32
27. 辰 chén - 5th earthly branch, 3rd solar month, year of the Dragon, ancient Chinese compass point / 32

Top Given Name Characters (Female)

1. 佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 56
2. 雨 yǔ - rain / 50
3. 欣 xīn - happy / 49
4. 怡 yí - harmony, pleased / 44
5. 婷 tíng - graceful / 39
6. 嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 37
7. 琪 qí - fine jade / 35
8. 思 sī - to think, to consider / 33
9. 慧 huì - intelligent / 31
10. 梦 mèng - dream, to dream / 30

Top Given Name Characters (Male)

1. 宇 yǔ - room, universe / 68
2. 子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 55
3. 豪 háo - grand, heroic / 48
4. 杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 47
5. 俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 45
6. 泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 38
7. 浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 35
8. 一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 34
9. 文 wén - language, culture, writing, formal, literary, gentle / 32
10. 明 míng - bright, clear, to understand, wise / 27

Single-Character Names (单名)

There were 668 single-character names, which is about 20% of the total names. I know that 单名 are pretty rare in Taiwan (I’m not sure about Hong Kong), so that’s something to keep in mind. More of the top 单名 are at the bottom of this post.

Top Single-Character Names

1. 鑫 xīn - prosperity / 12
2. 欣 xīn - happy / 10
3. 洋 yáng - ocean, vast, foreign, silver dollar or coin / 9
4. 静 jìng - still, calm, quiet, not moving / 7
5. 丹 dān - red, pellet, powder, cinnabar / 6
6. 娜 nà - graceful, elegant, beautiful / 6
7. 恩 ēn - favor, grace, kindness / 6
8. 敏 mǐn - quick, nimble, agile, clever, smart / 6
9. 昕 xīn - dawn / 6
10. 雪 xuě - snow / 6
11. 颖 yǐng - head of grain, husk, tip, point, clever, gifted, outstanding / 6

Female Single-Character Names

1. 欣 xīn - happy / 9
2. 鑫 xīn - prosperity / 8
3. 静 jìng - still, calm, quiet, not moving / 7
4. 丹 dān - red, pellet, powder, cinnabar / 6
5. 娜 nà - graceful, elegant, beautiful / 6
6. 敏 mǐn - quick, nimble, agile, clever, smart / 6
7. 雪 xuě - snow / 6
8. 倩 qiàn - pretty, winsome / 5
9. 洁 jié - clean / 5
10. 颖 yǐng - head of grain, husk, tip, point, clever, gifted, outstanding / 5

Male Single-Character Names

1. 洋 yáng - ocean, vast, foreign, silver dollar or coin / 7
2. 恩 ēn - favor, grace, kindness / 5
3. 杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 5
4. 宇 yǔ - room, universe / 4
5. 浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 4
6. 涛 tāo - big wave / 4 (Taiwan pr. táo)
7. 硕 shuò - large, big / 4
8. 磊 lěi - lumpy, rock pile, uneven, sincere, open and honest / 4
9. 立 lì - to stand, to set up, to establish, to lay down, to draw up, at once, immediately / 4
10. 耀 yào - brilliant, glorious / 4
11. 聪 cōng - wise, clever, sharp-witted, intelligent, acute, quick at hearing / 4
12. 超 chāo - to exceed, to overtake, to surpass, to transcend, to pass, to cross, ultra, super / 4
13. 鑫 xīn - prosperity / 4
14. 鹏 péng - large fabulous bird / 4

Two-Character Names (双名)

For the lists below, I removed all 单名 and just looked at 双名 characters. One of the things I was most excited to examine in this post was what characters tend to be found in the first vs. second positions. As you will see reflected below, some common characters used in names tend to occur more in one position, like 子 which is more prevalent in the first position. Others are more balanced. I bolded characters appearing in both positions.

Additional top 双名 can be found at the end of this post.

Top Two-Character Names

1. 俊杰 jùnjié / 7
2. 佳怡 jiāyí / 5
3. 嘉欣 jiāxīn / 5
4. 天宇 tiānyǔ / 5
5. 浩然 hàorán / 5
6. 婷婷 tíngtíng / 4
7. 子杰 zǐjié / 4
8. 安琪 ānqí / 4

Top First Characters

1. 子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 72
2. 嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 49
3. 佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 48
4. 思 sī - to think, to consider / 44
5. 一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 40
6. 俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 40
7. 雨 yǔ - rain / 36
8. 天 tiān - day, sky, heaven / 34
9. 宇 yǔ -room, universe / 34
10. 晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 34

Top Second Characters

1. 宇 yǔ - room, universe / 48
2. 豪 háo - grand, heroic / 45
3. 杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 41
4. 琪 qí - fine jade / 34
5. 文 wén - language, culture, writing, formal, literary, gentle / 32
6. 怡 yí - harmony, pleased / 30
7. 婷 tíng - graceful / 29
8. 轩 xuān - pavilion with a view, high, tall / 27
9. 辰 chén - 5th earthly branch, 3rd solar month, year of the Dragon, ancient Chinese compass point / 26
10. 欣 xīn - happy / 23
11. 涵 hán - to contain, to include, culvert / 23
12. 雨 yǔ - rain / 23

Female First Characters

1. 佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 38
2. 嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 31
3. 思 sī - to think, to consider / 29
4. 雨 yǔ - rain / 27
5. 晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 26
6. 诗 shī - poem, poetry, verse / 24
7. 梦 mèng - dream, to dream / 22
8. 小 xiǎo - small, tiny, few, young / 20
9. 欣 xīn - happy / 19
10. 雅 yǎ - elegant / 19

Female Second Characters

1. 琪 qí - fine jade / 30
2. 婷 tíng - graceful / 29
3. 怡 yí - harmony, pleased / 29
4. 欣 xīn - happy / 21
5. 雨 yǔ - rain / 21
6. 君 jūn - monarch, lord, gentleman, ruler / 19
7. 慧 huì - intelligent / 18
8. 涵 hán - to contain, to include, culvert / 18
9. 瑶 yáo - jade, precious stone, mother-of-pearl, nacre, precious / 17
10. 莹 yíng - luster of gems / 16

Male First Characters

1. 子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 54
2. 俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 35
3. 一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 26
4. 浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 24
5. 泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 22
6. 宇 yǔ - room, universe / 20
7. 明 míng - bright, clear, to understand, wise / 20
8. 天 tiān - day, sky, heaven / 19
9. 嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 18
10. 柏 bó - cedar, cypress / 17

Male Second Characters

1. 豪 háo - grand, heroic / 45
2. 宇 yǔ - room, universe / 44
3. 杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 40
4. 轩 xuān - pavilion with a view, high, tall / 21
5. 辰 chén - 5th earthly branch, 3rd solar month, year of the Dragon, ancient Chinese compass point / 20
6. 翔 xiáng - to soar, to glide / 19
7. 文 wén - language, culture, writing, formal, literary, gentle / 17
8. 霖 lín - continued rain / 17
9. 铭 míng - to engrave, inscribed motto / 15
10. 泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 14
11. 鑫 xīn - prosperity / 14
12. 龙 lóng - dragon, imperial / 14

Comparing Characters by Position

After examining the most popular characters by position, I was curious to look more specifically at which characters appear in one position but not the other. In this section I decided not to include lists separated by gender because it was getting to be too much information.

Exclusively First Characters

Below are the top characters that never appeared in the second position.

1. 晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 34
2. 小 xiǎo - small, tiny, few, young / 24
3. 紫 zǐ - purple, violet / 16
4. 美 měi - beautiful, very satisfactory, good, to beautify, to be pleased with oneself / 15
5. 若 ruò - to seem, like, as if / 14
6. 智 zhì - wisdom, knowledge / 13
7. 书 shū - book, letter, document, to write / 11
8. 婉 wǎn - graceful, tactful / 11
9. 振 zhèn - to shake, to flap, to vibrate, to resonate, to rise up with spirit, to rouse oneself / 11
10. 永 yǒng - forever, always, perpetual / 11
11. 秋 qiū - autumn, fall, harvest time / 11

Largest Deltas (First Position)

I also wanted to see characters that were found in both positions but for which there was a big difference in occurrence. I bolded characters that appeared both here and in the list above.

The math is formatted:
# times first position - # times second position = difference

1. 子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 72 - 10 = 62
2. 思 sī - to think, to consider / 44 - 4 = 40
3. 嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 49 - 10 = 39
4. 晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 34 - 0 = 34
5. 佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 48 - 15 = 33
6. 一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 40 - 9 = 31
7. 俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 40 - 9 = 31
8. 天 tiān - day, sky, heaven / 34 - 7 = 27
9. 小 xiǎo - small, tiny, few, young / 24 - 0 = 24
10. 诗 shī - poem, poetry, verse / 24 - 2 = 22

Exclusively Second Characters

1. 豪 háo - grand, heroic / 45
2. 霖 lín - continued rain / 22
3. 然 rán - correct, right, so, thus, like this / 20
4. 琦 qí - curio, valuable stone / 17
5. 仪 yí - apparatus, rites, appearance, present, ceremony / 14
6. 航 háng - boat, ship, craft, to navigate, to sail, to fly / 13
7. 晴 qíng - clear, fine (weather) / 12
8. 萱 xuān - orange day-lily / 12
9. 帆 fān - sail, to gallop / 11 (Taiwan pr. fán)
10. 璇 xuán - jade / 9

Largest Deltas (Second Position)

1. 豪 háo - grand, heroic / 45 - 0 = 45
2. 杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 41 - 3 = 38
3. 琪 qí - fine jade / 34 - 2 = 32
4. 婷 tíng - graceful / 29 - 6 = 23
5. 辰 chén - 5th earthly branch, 3rd solar month, year of the Dragon, ancient Chinese compass point / 26 - 3 = 23
6. 轩 xuān - pavilion with a view, high, tall / 27 - 5 = 22
7. 霖 lín - continued rain / 22 - 0 = 22
8. 涵 hán - to contain, to include, culvert / 23 - 2 = 21
9. 然 rán - correct, right, so, thus, like this / 20 - 0 = 20
10. 怡 yí - harmony, pleased / 30 - 13 = 17
11. 君 jūn - monarch, lord, gentleman, ruler / 22 - 5 = 17
12. 琦 qí - curio, valuable stone / 17 - 0 = 17

Gender Associations of Characters

This section is more experimental and exploratory. There are probably better ways to examine the gender association for characters, but I just wanted to take a quick look for fun, not develop a whole new analysis technique.

Gender Neutral Characters

Here I simply took the average of the ranks of each character for male names and female names. If a character was only found in male names or only found in female names, it would just end up with the overall rank of N/A.

The math is formatted:
(Female names rank + male names rank) ÷ 2 = average rank

1. 子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point
   (12th + 2nd) ÷ 2 = 7th (82 times)
2. 嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend
   (6th + 18th) ÷ 2 = 12th (59 times)
3. 文 wén - language, culture, writing, formal, literary, gentle
   (15th + 9th) ÷ 2 = 12th (58 times)
4. 宇 yǔ - room, universe
   (30th + 1st) ÷ 2 = 15.5th (87 times)
5. 思 sī - to think, to consider
   (8th + 29th) ÷ 2 = 18.5th (49 times)
6. 一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout
   (34th + 8th) ÷ 2 = 21st (51 times)
7. 天 tiān - day, sky, heaven
   (31st + 12th) ÷ 2 = 21.5th (44 times)
8. 雨 yǔ - rain
   (2nd + 45th) ÷ 2 = 23.5th (63 times)
9. 佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good
   (1st + 47th) ÷ 2 = 24th (68 times)
10. 恩 ēn - favor, grace, kindness
    (37th + 30th) ÷ 2 = 33.5th (33 times)

Female-Leaning Characters

For this section, I looked at characters in female names that did not appear in male names. This isn’t a perfect technique, but I think it is still interesting to see the results.

1. 婷 tíng - graceful / 5th (39 times)
2. 诗 shī - poem, poetry, verse / 16th (26 times)
3. 静 jìng - still, calm, quiet, not moving / 18th (23 times)
4. 莹 yíng - luster of gems / 28th (20 times)
5. 丽 lì - beautiful / 29th (19 times)
6. 依 yī - to depend on, to comply with or listen to sb, according to, in the light of / 35th (17 times)
7. 妍 yán - beautiful / 36th (17 times)
8. 媛 yuán - beautiful / 40th (16 times)
9. 月 yuè - moon, month / 41st (16 times)
10. 紫 zǐ - purple, violet / 43rd (16 times)

Male-Leaning Characters

Likewise, for this section I chose characters that appeared in male names but not female names. I actually know women with 龙 and 伟 in their names, so it’s important to remember that leaning male =/= only found in men’s names. There are always exceptions!

1. 豪 háo - grand, heroic / 3rd (48 times)
2. 浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 7th (35 times)
3. 龙 lóng - dragon, imperial / 28th (17 times)
4. 伟 wěi - big, large, great / 36th (14 times)
5. 峻 jùn - (of mountains) high, harsh or severe / 38th (13 times)
6. 耀 yào - brilliant, glorious / 42nd (13 times)
7. 钧 jūn - 30 catties, great, your (honorific) / 44th (13 times)
8. 成 chéng - to succeed, to finish, to complete, to accomplish, to become, to turn into, to be all right, one tenth / 48th (12 times)
9. 振 zhèn - to shake, to flap, to vibrate, to resonate, to rise up with spirit, to rouse oneself / 53rd (11 times)
10. 飞 fēi - to fly / 54th (11 times)

While looking at gender was fun, in the future I’d really like to look at tones/tone combinations, open vs. close syllables, and more. I’m still thinking about the best way to do this.

Surnames

Since surname rankings are actually known, I thought it would be interesting to briefly compare my dataset to the true populations.

Top Surnames

1. 李 Lǐ / 240
2. 王 Wáng / 206
3. 张 Zhāng / 186
4. 陈 Chén / 173
5. 刘 Liú / 147
6. 杨 Yáng / 94
7. 林 Lín / 91
8. 黄 Huáng / 88
9. 周 Zhōu / 69
10. 徐 Xú / 66

Mainland Top Surnames

1. 李 Lǐ
2. 王 Wáng
3. 张 Zhāng
4. 刘 Liú
5. 陈 Chén
6. 杨 Yáng
7. 赵 Zhào
8. 黄 Huáng
9. 周 Zhōu
10. 吴 Wú

Taiwan Top Surnames

1. 陈 Chén
2. 林 Lín
3. 黄 Huáng
4. 张 Zhāng
5. 李 Lǐ
6. 王 Wáng
7. 吴 Wú
8. 刘 Liú
9. 蔡 Cài
10. 杨 Yáng

What stood out to me most was 林 making #7 on my list. I suspect this is due to the inclusion of Taiwanese names. In Mainland China it actually ranks around #16 I believe. 赵 didn’t make the top 10, but I think it was actually #11, so that’s not too far off.

About the Data Cont’

For my original posts 1.5 years ago, I had difficulty maintaining a gender balance and decided to add male names from other types of sources as a supplement. I have since regretted that choice, so this time I worked hard to maintain balance without using unrelated sources. One result of this is that there are names in the original dataset that do not appear in this dataset, so even though the new dataset has more names, it’s possible that there could be fewer occurrences of some characters.

I did my best to remove duplicate individuals (not duplicate names!) and remove stage names that do not sound like real names (or replace them with real names). However, I did not try to swap out all stage names for birth names because that would have been too difficult and time consuming. I also made the assumption that any four-character name could be segmented into two surname characters and two given name characters.

It’s important to note that these names are not necessarily representative of the 15-30 population as a whole. Idols or trainees might change their names to something sounding more cool or hip, and like I mentioned, it simply wasn’t feasible for me to find everyone’s birth name. And my data collection didn’t take into account things like geography/population spread or keep track of ages (but I did for the most part avoid any shows older than 5 years and groups with members 30+).

Extended Lists

Top Given Name Characters

28 星 xīng - star, heavenly body / 31
29 梦 mèng - dream, to dream / 31
30 倩 qiàn - pretty, winsome / 29
31 涵 hán - to contain, to include, culvert / 29
32 艺 yì - skill, art / 29
33 雅 yǎ - elegant / 29
34 雪 xuě - snow / 29
35 君 jūn - monarch, lord, gentleman, ruler / 28
36 翔 xiáng - to soar, to glide / 27
37 霖 lín - continued rain / 27
38 哲 zhé - wise, a sage / 26
39 梓 zǐ - Catalpa kaempferi (type of tree), printing blocks / 26
40 羽 yǔ - feather, 5th note in pentatonic scale / 26
41 诗 shī - poem, poetry, verse / 26
42 凯 kǎi - triumphant, victorious / 25
43 家 jiā - home, family / 24
44 小 xiǎo - small, tiny, few, young / 24
45 洋 yáng - ocean, vast, foreign, silver dollar or coin / 24
46 铭 míng - to engrave, inscribed motto / 24
47 奕 yì - abundant, graceful / 23
48 柏 bó - cedar, cypress / 23
49 静 jìng - still, calm, quiet, not moving / 23
50 馨 xīn - fragrant / 23
51 丹 dān - red, pellet, powder, cinnabar / 22
52 安 ān - content, calm, still, quiet, safe, secure, in good health, to pacify, to harbor (good intentions), security, safety, peace / 22
53 洁 jié - clean / 22
54 然 rán - correct, right, so, thus, like this / 22
55 瑶 yáo - jade, precious stone, mother-of-pearl, nacre, precious / 22
56 心 xīn - heart, mind, intention, center, core / 21
57 扬 yáng - to raise, to hoist, scattering (in the wind), to flutter / 21
58 玉 yù - jade / 21
59 阳 yáng - sun, male principle / 21
60 源 yuán - root, source, origin / 20
61 琦 qí - curio, valuable stone / 20
62 瑞 ruì - lucky, auspicious, propitious, rayl / 20
63 莹 yíng - luster of gems / 20
64 丽 lì - beautiful / 19
65 宁 níng - peaceful, to pacify / 19
66 语 yǔ - dialect, language, speech / 19
67 云 yún - cloud / 18
68 敏 mǐn - quick, nimble, agile, clever, smart / 18
69 琳 lín - gem / 18
70 睿 ruì - astute, perspicacious, farsighted / 18
71 菲 fēi - luxuriant (plant growth), rich with fragrance / 18
72 辉 huī - splendor, to shine upon / 18
73 颖 yǐng - head of grain, husk, tip, point, clever, gifted, outstanding / 18
74 依 yī - to depend on, to comply with or listen to sb, according to, in the light of / 17
75 妍 yán - beautiful / 17
76 希 xī - to hope, to admire / 17
77 昊 hào - vast and limitless, the vast sky / 17
78 超 chāo - to exceed, to overtake, to surpass, to transcend, to pass, to cross, ultra, super / 17
79 龙 lóng - dragon, imperial / 17
80 东 dōng - east , host / 16
81 凡 fán - ordinary, commonplace, mundane, temporal, of the mortal world, all, whatever, altogether, gist, outline, note of Chinese musical scale / 16
82 媛 yuán - beautiful / 16
83 宏 hóng - great, magnificent / 16
84 志 zhì - aspiration, ambition, the will / 16
85 昕 xīn - dawn / 16
86 月 yuè - moon, month / 16
87 瑜 yú - excellence, luster of gems / 16
88 紫 zǐ - purple, violet / 16
89 航 háng - boat, ship, craft, to navigate, to sail, to fly / 16
90 钰 yù - treasure, hard metal / 16
91 雯 wén - multicolored clouds / 16
92 元 yuán - currency unit, first, original, primary, fundamental, constituent, part, era / 15
93 廷 tíng - palace courtyard / 15
94 承 chéng - to bear, to carry, to hold, to continue, to undertake, to take charge, owing to, due to, to receive / 15
95 晴 qíng - clear, fine (weather) / 15
96 美 měi - beautiful, very satisfactory, good, to beautify, to be pleased with oneself / 15
97 言 yán - words, speech, to say, to talk / 15
98 逸 yì - to escape, leisurely, outstanding / 15

Top Single-Character Names

12 佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 5
13 倩 qiàn - pretty, winsome / 5
14 凡 fán - ordinary, commonplace, mundane, temporal, of the mortal world, all, whatever, altogether, gist, outline, note of Chinese musical scale / 5
15 宇 yǔ - room, universe / 5
16 帅 shuài - handsome, graceful, smart, commander in chief / 5
17 悦 yuè - pleased / 5
18 杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 5
19 洁 jié - clean / 5
20 聪 cōng - wise, clever, sharp-witted, intelligent, acute, quick at hearing / 5
21 萌 méng - to sprout, to bud / 5
22 霖 lín - continued rain / 5

Top Two-Character Names

9 丽娜 lìnà / 3
10 丹妮 dānnī / 3
11 佳慧 jiāhuì / 3
12 佳欣 jiāxīn / 3
13 依依 yīyī / 3
14 俊毅 jùnyì / 3
15 博文 bówén / 3
16 嘉宝 jiābǎo / 3
17 嘉怡 jiāyí / 3
18 媛媛 yuányuán / 3
19 子铭 zǐmíng / 3
20 子龙 zǐlóng / 3
21 家豪 jiāháo / 3
22 心怡 xīnyí / 3
23 心雨 xīnyǔ / 3
24 思佳 sījiā / 3
25 思雨 sīyǔ / 3
26 晨曦 chénxī / 3
27 梓豪 zǐháo / 3
28 梦瑶 mèngyáo / 3
29 欣妤 xīnyú / 3
30 浩宇 hàoyǔ / 3
31 美琪 měiqí /3
32 诗琪 shīqí / 3
33 雨晴 yǔqíng / 3
34 雨航 yǔháng / 3
35 雪莹 xuěyíng / 3
36 静怡 jìngyí / 3

Well, if you made it to the end, congratulations! You are a brave soul. But seriously, thanks so much for reading all of this monster of a post. I hope you leave knowing at least a bit more about Chinese names.

It feels like half my posts are about music…apologies for those of you who aren’t as interested in Mandopop content. It is not going anywhere.

I had Spotify premium for a good chunk of the year, so now I really feel like I got my money’s worth! So yay for that.

I am not surprised to see 鱼罐头 at #1. I listened to that album a lot, and with 鱼罐头 being the first song on the album, it just makes sense. 密友 and 透 are a little more surprising to see. I remember not loving them earlier in the year, but as I heard them more and more, they grew on me a lot. I was a little surprised that no Tanya Chua songs made it into the top 5 because I’ve listened to her a lot throughout the 2nd half of the year.

At first I was so surprised to see kpop! I used to be into kpop before I started listening to Chinese music. But I realized that I still sometimes listen to kpop with my friend who likes it.

The middle is a little hard to read, so I’ll type it out:

Truth: The artist you binge-listened to the most was Bibi Zhou.
Lie: Your #1 Spotify playlist of the year was Release Radar.
Truth: The artist who appeared most in your playlists was Tanya Chua.

The lie was pretty obvious seeing as I rarely look at Release Radar.

Bibi Zhou doesn’t actually have that many monthly Spotify listeners, so I don’t think being in the top 0.01% of listeners is that impressive.

6,857 minutes ~ 114 hours :-O

I was surprised by my top 3-5. I would probably have guessed Sandy Lam over A-Mei. Karen Mok makes sense now that I’m thinking about it because I get her songs stuck in my head all the time. I would have thought 孙盛希 or 林宥嘉 would be #5 also.

Below are some of my other top songs from the personal playlist Spotify put together. I’ll list them out under the cut for your convenience. 

I observed that my top songs playlist really mirrors what I was listening to during the first half of the year. This checks out because 1) Spotify Wrapped apparently only includes through October and 2) I spent a lot more time listening to music in the first 6 months of 2021.

1. 周笔畅 - 鱼罐头
2. 周笔畅 - 密友
3. 周笔畅 - 时光机与流浪者
4. 周笔畅 - 透
5. 周笔畅 - 对嘴
6. 林忆莲 - 归零
7. A-Mei - 装醉
8. 陶喆 - 黑色柳丁
9. 周笔畅 - 嫉妒
10. 林忆莲 - 灰
11. 蔡健雅 - 下一次爱情来的时候
12. 张韶涵 - 作势装腔
    
13. 周笔畅 - 牡蛎
14. 林忆莲 - 盖亚
15. 蔡健雅 - 遗书
16. 田馥甄 - 讽刺的情书
17. 周笔畅 - 500万个灵魂和每一条皱纹
18. 林忆莲 - 爱笑了
19. 蔡健雅 - 原谅
20. 徐佳莹 - 理想人生
21. 周笔畅 - 别忘了
22. 陶喆 - Dear God
23. 蔡健雅 - 坐立不安
24. 戴佩妮 - 你要的爱
25. 周笔畅 - 隔墙花
26. 谭维维 - 钱夫人

In your Chinese studies you’ve probably learned: 红色、橙色、黄色、绿色、蓝色、紫色、灰色、白色、黑色、咖啡色、粉红色

But there are so many beautiful colors out there! Let’s learn some more. These are color terms I’ve come across outside Chinese class.

In general you can indicate a light shade with 浅 and a dark shade with 深. I have also seen 墨 for dark and 淡 for light, but when I Googled various color terms, there were more results for 浅 and 深 than 淡 and 墨.

I spent way too much time messing with HTML to color the text to match (except for the shades of white).

• 褐色 hèsè - brown
• 橘黄色 júhuángsè - orange
• 奶油色 nǎiyóusè - cream
• 金黄色 jīnhuángsè - gold color
• 朱红色 zhūhóngsè - vermilion
• 米色 mǐsè - beige
• 棕色 zōngsè - brown
• 青色 qīngsè - cyan / blue-green
• 灰白 huībái - light gray / ash-colored
• 蔚蓝 wèilán - azure / sky blue
• 纯白 chúnbái - pure white
• 雪白 xuěbái - snow white
• 洁白 jiébái - spotlessly white / pure white
• 漆黑 qīhēi - pitch-black
• 铜色 tóngsè - copper
• 乌黑 wūhēi - jet-black / dark
• 靛色 diànsè - indigo (color)
• 金色 jīnsè - golden / gold (color)
• 银色 yínsè - silver (color)

Here are some single characters I’ve seen as well. Some of these are commonly used in names, like 彤 and 丹.

• 彤 tóng - red
• 丹 dān - red / pellet / powder / cinnabar
• 缇 tí - orange-red silk / orange-red colored
• 赤 chì - red / scarlet / bare / naked
• 碧 bì - green jade / bluish green / blue / jade
• 翠 cuì - bluish-green / green jade
• 皓 hào - bright / luminous / white (esp. bright white teeth of youth or white hair of old age)
• 颢 hào - bright / white
• 玄 xuán - black / mysterious

彤, 丹, and 缇 are all described as a red-orange color. I’m not really sure of the difference, so I just made them all the same shade. I’m also unclear on exact distinction between 褐色 and 棕色. Image search results certainly suggest that they are used differently. Not sure how 咖啡色 fits in either.

I stumbled across this giant Wikipedia table with many beautiful colors that you can check out to learn more!

Rare and Common Chinese Syllables

Recently I was doing a little light research on the rarest syllables in Chinese.* I discovered that I didn’t know any characters for some of the rare syllables I found, so I started wondering what syllables are the most common and the rarest in my vocabulary. I decided to undertake the unnecessary task of chronicling how many characters I know for each possible Chinese syllable.**

There are apparently 400+ possible Chinese syllables, and I only have so much time, so I’m sure I missed a character that I know here or there. However, the top 5 most common syllables (which I’m showing below) had a substantial lead over #6, so I’m fairly confident they are my true top 5. And for all the syllables presented below, I checked MDBG to confirm I wasn’t forgetting any characters.

*Rare in this case meaning how many characters exist for a syllable, not how often a syllable is used in the language. The latter would be an interesting but very different question. Also, I’m not taking into account tones here, and I am only considering simplified characters.

**I don’t have a perfect definition for what characters I “know.” I basically tried to include only characters I’m fairly confident I can write. There are definitely more characters out there that I recognize, but I didn’t want to include any that I believe I can’t read correctly out of context. I was a little more liberal for the rare category though.

Most Common

1）ji：几、给、极、寄、及、记、级、集、机、季、计、基、鸡、即、吉、击、纪、积、继、济、急、技、际、挤、激、辑、既、绩、肌、疾、己、忌、迹、寂、棘、圾、讥（37）

2）yi：一、以、亿、亦、翼、已、遗、易、义、艺、仪、异、依、议、益、医、意、译、奕、伊、疫、忆、宜、衣、移、逸、毅、怡、谊、疑、姨、椅、裔、邑、抑（35）

3）yu：鱼、与、玉、愈、于、语、预、余、雨、宇、予、域、遇、育、豫、钰、寓、昱、煜、喻、欲、狱、羽、裕、郁、虞、娱、妤、瑜、誉、浴、吁、愚、俞（34）

4）shi：是、十、试、使、诗、拾、时、市、师、室、适、式、实、事、视、石、势、史、识、世、狮、食、士、释、始、施、氏、示、失、湿、饰、逝、嗜（33）

5）qi：七、骑、器、起、期、其、企、气、奇、齐、启、弃、琦、淇、柒、棋、旗、绮、妻、契、麒、琪、汽、岂、歧、祺、戚、欺、祈、乞、泣、凄（32）

I was not surprised to see yi, ji, qi, and shi make the top 5. That lion-poet-rock verse exists for a reason, and I feel like yi, ji, and qi are just everywhere. Yu was a bit of a surprise, but it makes sense since I like to research Chinese names, and a lot of the characters I listed for yu are used in names.

Rarest

For the sake of brevity, I’m only showing 25 syllables max for each category. There were simply too many for me to list them all.

First are syllables for which I only know 2 characters:

1. ang：昂、肮
2. cang：藏、苍
3. ceng：曾、层
4. gen：跟、根
5. geng：更、庚
6. gun：滚、棍
7. hei：黑、嘿
8. ken：肯、恳
9. kuan：款、宽
10. niang：娘、酿
11. pen：喷、盆
12. qun：群、裙
13. re：热、惹
14. reng：仍、扔
15. rou：肉、柔
16. ruan：阮、软
17. ruo：若、弱
18. sai：赛、塞
19. shua：刷、耍
20. sun：孙、损
21. te：特、忑
22. wai：外、歪
23. zhua：抓、爪
24. zhui：追、坠
25. zun：尊、遵

Next are syllables for which I only know 1 character:

1. ca：擦
2. cen：岑
3. dei：得
4. diu：丢
5. fo：佛
6. fou：否
7. gei：给
8. luan：乱
9. lve：略
10. nen：嫩
11. neng：能
12. nin：您
13. nuan：暖
14. nv：女
15. nve：虐
16. qia：恰
17. ri：日
18. run：润
19. sen：森
20. shei：谁
21. shuan：拴
22. tuan：团
23. weng：翁
24. zen：怎
25. zhuai：拽

What I find really interesting is how some of the syllables above are ones I encounter all the time while others are ones I only even heard relatively recently. For instance, I was a bit surprised that I only know one character each for luan and nv. I guess since 乱 and 女 are very commonplace, I feel like those syllables are everywhere, and it never occurred to me that I only know one luan and one nv character. But I remember furrowing my brow when I first learned 拴 and 虐. They feel unnatural to say honestly! I have to think about it for a sec.

Lastly, here are syllables for which I didn’t know any characters.

1. chua
2. chuai
3. chuo
4. cou
5. cuan
6. den
7. dia
8. ei
9. kei
10. keng
11. nou
12. pou
13. seng
14. zei
15. zuan

Some of these definitely elicited a “what? This is a legit Chinese syllable?” reaction from me. When I think about it more carefully, it makes sense that some, like chuo, exist. After all, I encounter zhuo and shuo all the time. But since I’ve never heard chuo, I guess it surprises me! Zei and dia strike me as the most unusual. Were you surprised by any of the syllables on this list?

If you’re interested in learning about the rarest syllables in general (not for me specifically), here’s some of the stuff I read:

The Rarest Mandarin Syllables

Unusual Mandarin syllables

Learning Chinese with Lyrics: 李荣浩 - 戒烟

I’ve decided that at least for a couple months I’ll increasing my Learning Chinese with Lyrics posts to twice a month. I know they aren’t usually as popular, but I have a backlog of songs/lyrics to share!

As I mentioned in my recent Mandopop recs post, I’ve been listening to Li Ronghao lately. This song in particular has been stuck in my head a lot. I find the lyrics to be very moving and poignant. A sense of loss truly comes through. And thankfully, the lyrics are also relatively simple, so it’s easy to learn them. This song is nearly 5 minutes long, but it doesn’t feel too long or dragged out to me at all. To my knowledge, this song isn’t Li Ronghao’s biggest hit (that honor seems to go to 年少有为), but it’s still pretty popular. And my favorite by him right now.

李荣浩 - 戒烟

已经为了变的更好 去掉锋芒
一不小心成了你的 倾诉对象
电话约在从前约会的地方
要陪你唱歌吃饭我结账
保持优良习惯

锋芒 fēngmáng - tip (of pencil, spear etc) / sharp point / cutting edge / spearhead / vanguard
倾诉 qīngsù - to say everything (that is on one’s mind)
结账 jiézhàng - to pay the bill / to settle accounts *also written 结帐
优良 yōuliáng - fine / good / first-rate

你说最近过的还算 幸福美满
喝了几杯唱了几段 你却哭了
想去安慰却不知什么立场
听你说话看你哭湿头发
我得到了惩罚

立场 lìchǎng - position / standpoint
惩罚 chéngfá - penalty / punishment / to punish

戒了烟我不习惯 没有你我怎么办
三年零一个礼拜 才学会怎么忍耐
你给过我的伤害 是没有一句责怪
戒了烟 染上悲伤 我也不想

忍耐 rěnnài - to endure / to bear with / to exercise patience / to restrain oneself / patience / endurance
戒烟 jièyān - to give up smoking
染上 rǎnshàng - to catch (a disease) / to get (a bad habit)

你说最近过的还算 幸福美满
喝了几杯唱了几段 你却哭了
想去安慰却不知什么立场
听你说话看你哭湿头发
我得到了惩罚

戒了烟我不习惯 没有你我怎么办
三年零一个礼拜 才学会怎么忍耐
你给过我的伤害 是没有一句责怪
戒了烟 染上悲伤 我也不想
我也不想
谁也不想

戒了烟我不习惯 没有你我怎么办
三年零一个礼拜 才学会怎么忍耐
你给过我的伤害 是没有一句责怪
戒了烟 染上悲伤 我也不想

Some of my past posts about Chinese names seem to have become popular among people in the writing community (writeblr???) as references. I’m very happy that people are interested in learning about Chinese names to name their original characters! However, I’m sure some people are also interested in creating characters of the Chinese diaspora. The diaspora is HUGE, but I wanted to shed some light on Chinese American names.

Disclaimer: I am just one Chinese American drawing on the stories of my family, friends, and classmates. This can’t certainly represent all Chinese Americans, so keep that in mind. My focus is primarily on people born and/or raised in the US as opposed to adult immigrants. I imagine a lot of this post also applies to Chinese Canadians, Chinese Australians, etc.

Name Formats

Our lovely “model” for today will be the fictional character of Jane/Jiayi Wang (王佳怡). Here are some basic name structures I’ve encountered throughout my life:

• Jane Jiayi Wang
  One very typical name format would be Western first name, Chinese middle name, last name. I don’t have any actual data on it, but if you told me that this format was the most common for US-born Chinese Americans, I would believe you. Today, it feels like I’m seeing more and more people use their Chinese middle names alongside their Western first names professionally or on social media.
• Jiayi Wang
  Some Chinese Americans do not have a Western-style name. This could be the case for someone born in the US or someone who immigrated. Often people with this name format may go by a Western name like Jane even if it’s not part of their legal name. They could also go by an abbreviation of their Chinese name or a nickname derived from their Chinese name.
• Jane Wang / Jane Amelia Wang
  Not all Chinese Americans have a Chinese name as part of their legal name. Some might have Western first and middle names. Someone without a Chinese name as part of their legal name might still have a Chinese name that just isn’t “official,” or they might not have a Chinese name at all.
• Jiayi Jane Wang
  I don’t think this name format is as common as the ones above. I’ve definitely seen people who immigrated as adults use this format, maybe if they adopted a Western name for convenience but still want to use their native name. However, the name they go by may not reflect their legal name.
• Jane Li-Wang / Jane Li Wang
  These examples (which are rarer in my experience) incorporate both parents’ surnames, one by hyphenating and the other by making one parent’s surname the middle name. I’ve read that recently in China, a growing number of parents (but still a small number) are passing on both surnames (like 李王佳怡).
  

While I don’t personally know many people who fit this description, sometimes parents will select Chinese and Western names that are similar. This could be a loose similarity like Jane/Jiayi or a closer similarity like Lynn/Lin(g). Take for example the pair Eileen/Ailing, as in Eileen Chang (张爱玲) or Eileen Gu (谷爱凌). Another example of a close match is Wilber Pan/Pan Weibo (潘玮柏).

Another option is a Chinese name as a first name that was picked to be easy for English speakers to pronounce. Names like Ming or Kai are short and easy to pronounce.

More on Chinese Names

• As I said, not all Chinese Americans have a Chinese name. For some, this might not be a big deal, but for others, it could be a sensitive issue.
• Some have a Chinese name but may not know how it’s written, what it means, etc. A lot of Chinese Americans are mostly illiterate in Chinese and may not feel very comfortable speaking the language either. In my experience, it’s not uncommon for Chinese Americans to only be able to write their Chinese name and nothing else. There’s literally a whole song about this phenomenon.
• Sometimes one may not know their Chinese name at all. Some Chinese Americans rarely if ever use their Chinese name. They may even feel little or no connection to the name. If their parents were born in the US or immigrated at a young age, it’s likely the Chinese name was given by grandparents. In this situation, it’s possible the parents don’t know the Chinese name of their child either.
• Some Chinese Americans are interested in reclaiming their Chinese name. I’ve seen people add their Chinese names to their social media or even consider switching to going by their Chinese name.
• Others don’t like being made to feel like a Western name such as Jane isn’t their real name (perpetual foreigner stereotype, anyone?). Acting like Jane isn’t someone’s “real name” and you must uncover their “more authentic” Chinese name is very icky. Jane and Jiayi are both real and valid. 

Important: Due to some of the reasons above (and probably others) some Chinese Americans may not like it when others ask them about their Chinese names. It may be something very personal that they prefer to keep private, something they feel no connection to, something they don’t have in the first place, etc.

Also, someone isn’t turning their back on their heritage because they prefer going by Jane over Jiayi. While it’s true that some people feel pressured into going by a Western name that’s easier for others to pronounce (and this SUCKS), no one should be forced to go by their Chinese name if they don’t want to. People should respect and learn to pronounce others’ names, but as I’ve seen pointed out on Twitter, some people would rather go by Jane than have to hear Jiayi butchered day after day. So always respect personal choice and don’t pressure others to adopt a Western name or go by their Chinese name against their will.

Adopting Mispronunciations: Liu, Wang, Zhang, Zhao, etc.

I know Chinese Americans who pronounce their names or surnames “incorrectly” to conform with American English pronunciations of these names. For example, take Bowen Yang (杨伯文) or Lucy Liu (刘). I’ve also observed bearers of common surnames Wang, Zhang, and Zhao going by the Americanized pronunciations of their surnames. 

Sometimes this can be a little confusing because I’m honestly not sure if I should pronounce their name the Americanized way or the native Chinese way. For instance, I had a classmate who reluctantly pronounced her surname Liu more like Lu but wished people would say it more accurately. But I also had another classmate with the last name Wang who didn’t seem to care about the pronunciation.

Romanization

This post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning that Chinese American names are diverse when it comes to romanization system used. First of all, there are many Chinese languages. Secondly, you have people immigrating from different countries with different romanization standards. Additionally, practices change over time, so people whose ancestors immigrated decades ago might have a name that uses a romanization system no longer in use. I’m sure there are even people whose full names contain traces of multiple romanization systems.

After writing most of this post, I came across an interesting piece by Emma Woo Louie, Name Styles and Structure of Chinese American Personal Names. (She also has a whole website about Chinese American surnames!) The article is almost 30 years old, but it was an interesting read and still relevant today. It includes a discussion on the different ways to write two-syllable names.

• Separated by a space
• With a hyphen between
• No separation

For our example Jane Wang, you might expect to see:

• Jane Chiayi Wang
• Jane Chia Yi Wang
• Jane Chia-yi Wang
• Jane Chia-Yi Wang

I used Wade-Giles style romanization above because that’s what I typically see used alongside hyphens. Learn more about it by reading another post of mine!

Emma Woo Louie’s article also mentions the use of initials (like J.Y. Wang/C.Y. Wang for our example). I initially did not think to include this name format—I think it’s less in style now and it didn’t occur to me—but I have encountered it before.

I have also met Chinese Americans whose surnames were altered accidentally during the immigration process, thus leaving families with “misspelled” surnames. Certainly makes for an interesting family story!

Adoptees

Disclaimer: I’m not an adoptee and do not want to speak over adoptees. But I wanted to add a section on adoptee names. Thinking back, most Chinese adoptees I’ve met do not have anything in their legal name that is Chinese, but there are exceptions to this—I do know some who have names of the format Jiayi Smith or Jane Jiayi Smith. 

A former classmate of mine knew the story and meaning behind her name (it was given by the workers at the orphanage she was adopted from), but I don’t know how common her experience is. My assumption is that most adoptive parents don’t know Chinese, so they probably won’t know much about their child’s Chinese name, and thus the child might not know much either. 

I’ve read some essays and other thoughts by adoptees about their relationships with their Chinese names that I’ll link below. I encourage you to check them out!

Names | 姓名 by Kimberly Rooney | 高小荣

Twitter thread by Lydia X. Z. Brown

Stuck in Racial Limbo by Hazel Yafang Livingston

Tumblr post by sanzuwuya

Multiracial Chinese Americans

For multiracial Chinese people, there is a whole world of other possibilities for names, but a lot of what I wrote above can apply as well. Every person and family is different! Here are just a few general trends I’ve observed:

• Non-Chinese first name plus legal Chinese middle name *
• Has Chinese name that isn’t part of legal name *
• No Chinese name at all *
• Has mother’s maiden name as a middle name +
• Hyphenated surname
• I’m sure there are multiracial Chinese people with Chinese given names, but in my experience, it’s not common here
  

*Surname may or may not be of Chinese origin
+If mother is Chinese and father is not

Following typical naming conventions here, it’s more likely someone has a Chinese surname if their father is Chinese, but this isn’t true in all cases. In the case that someone has their father’s non-Chinese surname, they might use their mother’s Chinese surname in situations where they are going by their Chinese name. Like Jane Jiayi Smith might use her mother’s surname 王 and go by 王佳怡 in Chinese class, even thought Wang doesn’t appear in her legal name. 

Fellow Chinese diaspora folks, feel free to add on with contributions about names of the diaspora in your country/community/family/etc.!

See also: Variant Characters You Should Know

Whoops! I accidentally published a draft of this post early a few weeks ago, and some people liked and reblogged it. If you saw it…pretend you didn’t.

I’ve kind of inadvertently started a Cross-Strait series on this blog comparing Mandarin Chinese in Mainland China and Taiwan. This post is a continuation of this unofficial series. It is NOT intended to be comprehensive. For example, some of the characters below can be surnames but are not marked as such because I’ve never encountered them (meaning they are likely very rare). More obscure variants aren’t indicated either. 

Definitions are from MDBG. Please let me know if you notice any errors.

發、髮 → 发

发 | 發 fā - to send out / to show (one’s feeling) / to issue / to develop / to make a bundle of money / classifier for gunshots (rounds)
>> 发送 | 發送 fāsòng - to transmit / to dispatch / to issue (an official document or credential) 

发 fà | 髮 fǎ - hair
>> 发型 fàxíng | 髮型 fǎxíng - hairstyle / coiffure / hairdo

只、隻 → 只

只 zhǐ - only / merely / just / but
>> 只要 zhǐyào - if only / so long as

只 | 隻 zhī - classifier for birds and certain animals, one of a pair, some utensils, vessels etc
>> 一只猫 | 一隻貓 yì zhī māo - one cat

游、遊 → 游

游 yóu - to swim / variant of 游 | 遊
>> 游泳 yóuyǒng - swimming / to swim

游 | 遊 yóu - to walk / to tour / to roam / to travel
>> 游览 | 遊覽 yóulǎn - to go sightseeing / to tour / to visit

塗、涂 → 涂

涂 | 塗 tú - to apply (paint etc) / to smear / to daub / to blot out / to scribble / to scrawl / (literary) mud / street
>> 糊涂 hútu | 糊塗 hútú - muddled / silly / confused

涂 Tú - surname Tu
>> Actor 涂松岩 (Tu Songyan)

噹、当 → 当

当 | 噹 dāng - (onom.) dong / ding dong (bell)
>> 叮当 | 叮噹 dīngdāng - ding dong / jingling of bells / clanking sound

当 | 當 dāng - to be / to act as / manage / withstand / when / during / ought / should / match equally / equal / same / obstruct / just at (a time or place) / on the spot / right / just at
>> 相当 | 相當 xiāngdāng - equivalent to / appropriate / considerably / to a certain extent / fairly / quite

当 | 當 dàng - at or in the very same… / suitable / adequate / fitting / proper / to replace / to regard as / to think / to pawn / (coll.) to fail (a student)
>> 适当 | 適當 shìdàng - suitable / appropriate

別、彆 → 别

别 | 別 bié - to leave / to depart / to separate / to distinguish / to classify / other / another / don’t …! / to pin / to stick (sth) in
>> 离别 | 離別 líbié - to leave (on a long journey) / to part from sb

别 | 彆 biè - to make sb change their ways, opinions etc
>> 别扭 bièniu | 彆扭 bièniǔ - awkward / difficult / uncomfortable / not agreeing / at loggerheads / gauche

胡、鬍 → 胡

胡 hú - surname Hu / non-Han people, esp. from central Asia / reckless / outrageous / what? / why? / to complete a winning hand at mahjong (also written 和)
>> 胡说 | 胡說 húshuō - to talk nonsense / drivel

胡 | 鬍 hú - beard / mustache / whiskers
>> 胡子 | 鬍子 húzi - beard / mustache or whiskers / facial hair

面、麵 → 面

面 miàn - face / side / surface / aspect / top / classifier for objects with flat surfaces such as drums, mirrors, flags etc
>> 面对 | 面對 miànduì - to confront / to face

面 | 麵 miàn - flour / noodles / (of food) soft (not crunchy) / (slang) (of a person) ineffectual / spineless
>> 拉面 | 拉麵 lāmiàn - pulled noodles / ramen

乾、幹、干 → 干

干 | 乾 gān - dry / clean / in vain / dried food / foster / adoptive / to ignore
>> 干脆 | 乾脆 gāncuì - straightforward / clear-cut / blunt (e.g. statement) / you might as well / simply

干 gān - to concern / to interfere / shield / stem
>> 干扰 | 干擾 gānrǎo - to disturb / to interfere / perturbation / interference (physics)

干 | 幹 gàn - tree trunk / main part of sth / to manage / to work / to do / capable / cadre / to kill (slang) / to fuck (vulgar) / (coll.) pissed off / annoyed
>> 树干 | 樹幹 shùgàn - tree trunk

余、餘 → 余

余 yú - surname Yu / (archaic) I / me / variant of 余｜餘, surplus
>> Author 余华 (Yu Hua)

余 | 餘 yú - extra / surplus / remaining / remainder after division / (following numerical value) or more / in excess of (some number) / residue (math.) / after / I / me
>> 多余 | 多餘 duōyú - superfluous / unnecessary / surplus

于、於 → 于

于 yú - surname Yu / to go / to take / sentence-final interrogative particle / variant of 于 | 於
>> Singer 于文文 (Yu Wenwen/Kelly Yu)

于 | 於 yú - in / at / to / from / by / than / out of
>> 对于 | 對於 duìyú - regarding / as far as sth is concerned / with regards to

后、後 → 后

后 hòu - empress / queen / (archaic) monarch / ruler
>> 皇后 huánghòu - empress / imperial consort

后 | 後 hòu - back / behind / rear / afterwards / after / later / post-
>> 后悔 | 後悔 hòuhuǐ - to regret / to repent 

台、檯、臺、颱 → 台

台 | 檯 tái - desk / table / counter
>> 台灯 | 檯燈 táidēng - desk lamp / table lamp

台 | 臺 tái - platform / stage / terrace / stand / support / station / broadcasting station / classifier for vehicles or machines
>> 舞台 | 舞臺 wǔtái - stage / arena / fig. in the limelight

台 | 颱 tái - typhoon
>> 台风 | 颱風 táifēng - hurricane / typhoon

捨、舍 → 舍

舍 | 捨 shě - to give up / to abandon / to give alms
>> 不舍 | 不捨 bùshě - reluctant to part with (sth or sb) / unwilling to let go of

舍 shè - residence
>> 宿舍 sùshè - dormitory / dorm room / living quarters / hostel

志、誌 → 志

志 zhì - aspiration / ambition / the will
>> 志愿 | 志願 zhìyuàn - aspiration / ambition / to volunteer

志 | 誌 zhì - sign / mark / to record / to write a footnote
>> 标志 | 標誌 biāozhì - sign / mark / symbol / logo / to symbolize / to indicate / to mark

裏、裡、里 → 里

里 | 裡 lǐ - lining / interior / inside / internal
里 | 裏 lǐ - variant of 里 | 裡
>> 里头 | 裡頭 lǐtou - inside / interior

里 lǐ - ancient measure of length, approx. 500 m / neighborhood / ancient administrative unit of 25 families / (Tw) borough, administrative unit
>> 公里 | 公里 gōnglǐ - kilometer

範、范 → 范

范 | 範 fàn - pattern / model / example
>> 模范 | 模範 mófàn - model / fine example

范 Fàn - surname Fan
>> Actress 范冰冰 (Fan Bingbing)

並、併 → 并

并 | 並 bìng - and / furthermore / also / together with / (not) at all / simultaneously / to combine / to join / to merge
>> 并且 | 並且 bìngqiě - and / besides / moreover / furthermore / in addition

并 | 併 bìng - to combine / to amalgamate
>> 合并 | 合併 hébìng - to merge / to annex
*合并 also exists as a variant

丑、醜 → 丑

丑 chǒu - clown / 2nd earthly branch: 1-3 a.m., 12th solar month (6th January to 3rd February), year of the Ox / ancient Chinese compass point: 30°
>> 小丑 xiǎochǒu - clown

丑 | 醜 chǒu - shameful / ugly / disgraceful
>> 丑陋 | 醜陋 chǒulòu - ugly

松、鬆 → 松

松 sōng - pine
>> 松树 | 松樹 sōngshù - pine / pine tree

松 | 鬆 sōng - loose / to loosen / to relax / floss (dry, fluffy food product made from shredded, seasoned meat or fish, used as a topping or filling)
>> 放松 | 放鬆 fàngsōng - to loosen / to relax

准、準 → 准

准 zhǔn - to allow / to grant / in accordance with / in the light of
>> 不准 bùzhǔn - not to allow / to forbid / to prohibit

准 | 準 zhǔn - accurate / standard / definitely / certainly / about to become (bride, son-in-law etc) / quasi- / para-
>> 标准 | 標準 biāozhǔn - (an official) standard / norm / criterion

曆、歷 → 历

历 | 曆 lì - calendar
>> 日历 | 日曆 rìlì - calendar

历 | 歷 lì - to experience / to undergo / to pass through / all / each / every / history
>> 历来 | 歷來 lìlái - always / throughout (a period of time) / (of) all-time

吁、籲 → 吁

吁 xū - sh / hush
>> 吁吁 xūxū - to pant / to gasp for breath

吁 | 籲 yù - to implore
>> 呼吁 | 呼籲 hūyù - to call on (sb to do sth) / to appeal (to) / an appeal

須、鬚 → 须

须 | 須 xū - must / to have to / to wait
>> 必须 | 必須 bìxū - to have to / must / compulsory / necessarily

须 | 鬚 xū - beard / mustache / feeler (of an insect etc) / tassel
>> 胡须 | 鬍鬚 húxū - beard

表、錶 → 表

表 biǎo - exterior surface / family relationship via females / to show (one’s opinion) / a model / a table (listing information) / a form / a meter (measuring sth)
>> 表面 | 表面 biǎomiàn - surface / face / outside / appearance

表 | 錶 biǎo - wrist or pocket watch
>> 手表 | 手錶 shǒubiǎo - wrist watch

臟、髒 → 脏

脏 | 臟 zàng - viscera / (anatomy) organ
>> 心脏 | 心臟 xīnzàng - heart

脏 | 髒 zāng - dirty / filthy / to get (sth) dirty
>> 脏话 | 髒話 zānghuà - profanity / obscene language / speaking rudely

刮、颳 → 刮

刮 guā - to scrape / to blow / to shave / to plunder / to extort
>> 刮痧 guāshā - gua sha (technique in traditional Chinese medicine)

刮 | 颳 guā - to blow (of the wind)
>> 刮风 | 颳風 guāfēng - to be windy

困、睏 → 困

困 kùn - to trap / to surround / hard-pressed / stranded / destitute
>> 困难 | 困難 kùnnan - difficult / challenging / straitened circumstances / difficult situation

困 | 睏 kùn - sleepy / tired

緻、致 → 致

致 | 緻 zhì - (bound form) fine / delicate
>> 细致 | 細緻 xìzhì - delicate / fine / careful / meticulous / painstaking

致 zhì - to send / to devote / to deliver / to cause / to convey
>> 导致 | 導致 dǎozhì - to lead to / to create / to cause / to bring about

儘、盡 → 尽

尽 | 儘 jǐn - to the greatest extent / (when used before a noun of location) furthest or extreme / to be within the limits of / to give priority to
>> 尽早 | 儘早 jǐnzǎo - as early as possible

尽 | 盡 jìn - to use up / to exhaust / to end / to finish / to the utmost / exhausted / finished / to the limit (of sth) / all / entirely
>> 尽头 | 盡頭 jìntóu - end / extremity / limit

*There are some words like 尽量 where 盡量 and 儘量 are both possible.

制、製 → 制

制 zhì - system / to control / to regulate / variant of 制 | 製
>> 控制 kòngzhì - control / to exercise control over / to contain

制 | 製 zhì - to manufacture / to make
>> 制造 | 製造 zhìzào - to manufacture / to make

注、註 → 注

注 zhù - to inject / to pour into / to concentrate / to pay attention / stake (gambling) / classifier for sums of money / variant of 注 | 註
>> 注重 zhùzhòng - to pay attention to / to emphasize

注 | 註 zhù - to register / to annotate / note / comment
>> 注定 | 註定 zhùdìng - to foreordain / to be bound to / to be destined to / to be doomed to / inevitably

了、瞭 → 了

了 le - (completed action marker) / (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now) / (modal particle intensifying preceding clause)
>> 为了 | 為了 wèile - in order to / for the purpose of / so as to

了 liǎo - to finish / to achieve / variant of 了 | 瞭 / to understand clearly
>> 了不起 liǎobuqǐ - amazing / terrific / extraordinary

了 | 瞭 liǎo - (of eyes) bright / clear-sighted / to understand clearly
>> 明了 | 明瞭* míngliǎo - to understand clearly / to be clear about / plain / clear
* Can also be written 明了 in traditional Chinese.

Further reading:
More Than You Want to Know About Simplified Characters
現代漢語常用簡繁一對多字義辨析表- 附錄

Thank you everyone for 2500 followers <3 I haven’t been posting as much lately because I’ve been busy. But this post is quite long and took a long time to write, so consider it a token of my thanks.

I looked back at my blog archive and was surprised to see that my last music recommendations post was in November 2020—almost a year ago! Well I did have my Mandarin Music March challenge, but I’m not counting that. Here’s an update on what I’ve been listening to the last 6 months or so.

蔡健雅 / Tanya Chua
I have included Tanya Chua in past recommendation posts and featured a few of her songs on my blog, but I’ve been listening to her constantly this year, so I wanted to highlight her amazing music again. I am not a huge ballad/slow song fan, but I love hers. And she does great upbeat pop songs too.
Favorite album: 双栖动物（2005）
Favorite songs: 原谅、达尔文、坐立不安、无底洞、生锈游乐场

沈以诚 / Eason Shen
Have you ever wondered what country-inspired Mandopop would sound like? Well you can find out right now. I discovered Eason Shen during my August challenge. He also has more typical pop songs, from slow and calm to uptempo to soulful.
Favorite album: 玩家（2020）
Favorite songs: 牛仔、寻宝、巴赫旧约（翻唱）、15楼窗外、形容
*First two songs are the ones with country influence.

林宥嘉 / Yoga Lin
Yoga Lin is another artist I’d heard of but overlooked for whatever reason. I checked out one of his albums during my August music challenge and instantly fell in love. He’s already become one of my top 10 most played artists of 2021. I would describe a lot of his music as pop rock.
Favorite album: 大小说家（2012）
Favorite songs: 白昼之月、唐人街、感同身受、慢一点、4号病房

莫文蔚 / Karen Mok
I made the mistake of not checking out Karen Mok earlier because I assumed most of her music was in Cantonese—she has actually released more Mandarin albums than Cantonese! Her older albums have some great rock-leaning and almost grungy tracks, and I love some of her more recent slow songs.
Favorite album: 如果没有你（2006）
Favorite songs: 境外、溜溜的情歌、懒得管、薄荷、女朋友的男朋友

张惠妹 / A-Mei
A-Mei is a Mandopop legend. She has a very powerful voice that works well for slow, emotional ballads and face-paced rock songs alike. I see her songs covered on various singing shows often as well. I particularly enjoy her more bombastic ballads and the rock tracks from her AMIT albums.
Favorite album: 阿米特（2009）
Favorite songs: 也许明天、装醉、开门见山、血腥爱情故事、我最亲爱的

徐佳莹 / LaLa Hsu
I’ve known about LaLa Hsu for years, but I never explored her music much until more recently. I was pleasantly surprised by the versatility of her voice and the diversity of her discography! It’s been about 4 years since her last album, so I’m hoping she has something in the works.
Favorite album: 心里学（2017）
Favorite songs: 你敢不敢、到此为止、理想人生、现在不跳舞要干嘛、灰色

陈势安 / Andrew Tan
I first heard of Andrew Tan through a cover of his song 天后 by Jeno Liu 刘力扬. Both versions are great, and I recommend you give both a listen. Anyway, Andrew Tan has a very deep, rich voice with a lot of soul. His newest album has some great pop hits that I can’t get out of my head.
Favorite album: 唯一想了解的人（2021）
Favorite songs: 唯一想了解的人、兜圈、天后、我们都伤、势在必行

田馥甄 / Hebe Tien
Hebe is another artist I neglected to check out sooner because I had heard her song 《不醉不会》 years ago and didn’t care for it. However, her latest album really struck a chord with me, so I’ve been going through her discography. She has some fantastic slow, emotional songs and some stuff with more edge too.
Favorite album: 无人知晓（2020）
Favorite songs: 讽刺的情书、底里歇斯、终身大事、人间烟火、小幸运

李荣浩 / Li Ronghao
Watching Li Ronghao on 青春有你3 inspired me to finally check out his music. I definitely get the hype. His style is pretty distinctive (but I honestly don’t think I can describe it well) and he releases a lot of long 4:30-5:00+ minute songs, so he’s not for everyone, but I saved at least a couple songs from all of his albums.
Favorite album: 嗯（2017）
Favorite songs: 戒烟、不将就、李白、满座、老友谊

陈奕迅 / Eason Chan
I’ve just started exploring Eason Chan’s discography, but so far there’s a lot to like. As a Hong Kong singer, he has Cantonese and Mandarin albums (and some albums with both languages), but I’m just sticking to Mandarin for now. I can’t wait to hear more soon!
Favorite album (so far): 认了吧（2007）
Favorite songs (so far): 烟味、让我留在你身边、快乐男生、放弃治疗、陪你度过漫长岁月

Other songs I’ve been loving:

• 黑色天空 - 路嘉欣 / Jozie Lu
  Angsty, brooding, emo perfection.
• 蓝莲花 - 许巍 / Xu Wei
  A grand rock song that builds.
• 冰川 - 曹方 / Cao Fang
  True to its name, feels cold and apathetic like ice
• 温室狂花 - 艾薇 / Ivy
  Loud and in your face, but in a good way.
• 燕尾蝶 - 梁静茹 / Fish Leong
  Rock-infused song filled with emotion.
• 小娟 ( 化名 ) - 谭维维 / Sitar Tan
  This song packs a punch as powerful as its message.
• 强求 - 李佳薇 / Jess Lee
  A dark song for singing your heart out.
• 幽默感 - 范晓萱 / Mavis Fan
  Casual and gritty but with a delicate bounce.

Today I will be exposing my past as someone who did not care about stroke order by comparing actual stroke order to how I used to write some characters. The title of this post is actually not 100% true because sometimes I still write some of these characters incorrectly…it’s just so hard to break old habits.

In retrospect, I think the real stroke order makes a lot of sense thinking about how 少 is written. But I do remember being surprised when I learned I was writing this character incorrectly.

I believe I mentioned in a previous post that I used to write the left half of 那 like 月. And I was also writing the right part wrong too! Fortunately I’ve been very successful in correcting this and now write 那 with the proper stroke order consistently.

For both 北 and 比, I was writing the right component in incorrect order. I also wrote the left part of 比 incorrectly, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I was also messing up the direction of strokes…I can’t remember exactly now.

To this day, the proper stroke order for 长 remains unintuitive to me. But I have been good about following proper stroke order regardless. Honestly, I feel like the character doesn’t look as neat when I use correct stroke order, but I do think like the strokes flow better together.

I find myself having to look up stroke order for this character and characters like 贯 from time to time. It just won’t stick!

This is a small discrepancy, but I honestly feel like it makes a difference in my handwriting. I guess 为 in an exception because it is written like the incorrect way I wrote 力.

I am embarrassed to say I just learned how incorrectly I write this character today. I think I knew I was doing something wrong, but I didn’t realize just how wrong I was. I’m going to have to work on this from now on.

For 我, I’m not 100% sure that the incorrect order above is exactly how I used to write, but it’s close. 我 was always a really challenging character for me, and while I don’t think my current 我s are perfect, I noticed a big improvement when I learned the proper stroke order. The improper 我s above look fine too, but I think it’s because my handwriting is neat in general.

I have known for a long time that I struggle with remembering the stroke order for 里. Since how I’ve always written it is pretty close to the correct order, it’s quite challenging to correct myself.

This one is pretty bad because I even had the wrong number of strokes! How I used to write it was not very natural feeling, so it’s pretty easy for me to remember the proper order.

Last but not least, here are some characters that I was just writing blatantly incorrectly. 

I’m very mortified to say that I only realized these discrepancies relatively recently. For 黄 I literally realized it last week. I guess I just didn’t ever look close enough, yikes. 练 is also pretty bad because I’ve always written 锻炼的炼 correctly, so I really have no excuse. With 勇 I feel like it’s quite hard to tell with certain fonts or small text, so that’s the one I’m least ashamed about.

Well, this has been embarrassing. Now I’m going to be paying a lot more attention to stroke order. You can teach an old dog new tricks, but it takes a lot of work. That’s why you should pay attention to stroke order upfront!

第33届流行音乐金曲奖 | 第33屆流行音樂金曲獎

• 年度 niándù - year (e.g. school year, fiscal year) / annual 
• 专辑 | 專輯 zhuānjí - album / record (music)
• 奖 | 獎 jiǎng - prize / award 
• 最佳 zuìjiā - optimum / optimal / peak / best (athlete, movie etc) 
• 华语 | 華語 huáyǔ - Chinese language 
• 台语 | 台語 táiyǔ - Taiwanese / Hokkien
• 客语 | 客語 kèyǔ - Hakka language (客家语)
• 原住民 yuánzhùmín - indigenous peoples / aborigine 
• 作曲 zuòqǔ - to compose (music) 
• 作词 | 作詞 zuòcí - to write or compose lyrics
  
• 编曲 | 編曲 biānqǔ - to compose (music) / arrangement 
• 制作 | 製作 zhìzuò - to make / to manufacture / to produce
• 单曲 | 單曲 dānqǔ - single (recording industry) 
• 乐团 | 樂團 yuètuán - band / orchestra 
• 新人 xīnrén - newcomer / fresh talent

Here are some names of actual awards that we can now read!

• 年度专辑奖 | 年度專輯獎 = Album of the Year
• 年度歌曲奖 | 年度歌曲獎 = Song of the Year
• 最佳华语专辑奖 | 最佳華語專輯獎 = Best Mandarin Album
• 最佳台语专辑奖 | 最佳台語專輯獎 = Best Taiwanese Album
• 最佳客语专辑奖 | 最佳客語專輯獎 = Best Hakka Album
• 最佳原住民语专辑奖 | 最佳原住民語專輯獎 = Best Aboriginal Album

• 最佳作曲人奖 | 最佳作曲人獎 = Best Composition
• 最佳作词人奖 | 最佳作詞人獎 = Best Lyrics/Lyricist
• 最佳编曲人奖 | 最佳編曲人獎 = Best Music Arrangement
• 最佳专辑制作人奖 | 最佳專輯製作人獎 = Producer of the Year, Album
• 最佳单曲制作人奖 | 最佳單曲製作人獎 = Producer of the Year, Single
• 最佳乐团奖 | 最佳樂團獎 = Best Band
• 最佳新人奖 | 最佳新人獎 = Best New Artist

I think 华语 can refer to Chinese languages beyond just Mandarin, but in this case and a lot of other cases, it is used to mean Mandarin. I’ve read that the term 华语 is commonly used in Singapore and Malaysia. It’s also often found in the term 华语乐坛/歌坛 (Chinese music world).

Here is some other good vocab to know:

• 提名 tímíng - to nominate
• 入围 | 入圍 rùwéi - to get past the qualifying round / to make it to the finals
• 演唱 yǎnchàng - sung performance / to sing for an audience
• 演奏 yǎnzòu - to perform on a musical instrument
• 奖项 | 獎項 jiǎngxiàng - award / prize
• 得奖 | 得獎 déjiǎng - to win a prize
• 届 | 屆 jiè - classifier for events, meetings, elections, sporting fixtures, years (of graduation)
• 本届 | 本屆 běnjiè - current / this year
• 颁奖典礼 | 頒獎典禮 bānjiǎng diǎnlǐ - award ceremony
• 名单 | 名單 míngdān - list of names
  

I have noticed that the GMAs usually use 入围 instead of 提名 to talk about nominations. I’m not really sure why.

The award ceremony will be held in Kaohsiung in July. I don’t plan on watching, but I’m excited to see who wins nonetheless.